Lighting Giants is an unique lighting installation created by designer Dean Skira at the Uljanik Shipyard in the city of Pula in Croatia.
Skira draws much inspiration from his youthful days while practising rowing at a club opposite the shipyard, overlooking the massive cranes that dominated the skyline of Pula bay. The installation consists of eight cranes which are fitted with 73 RGB LED spotlights weighing 40 kilogram each. During night-time, vibrant combinations of up to 16000 different colours controlled by a wi-fi based remote control system are illuminated over the beautiful skyline.
Built in 1856, Uljanik is one of the oldest shipyards in the world and historically symbolic to Pula. A project like this has managed to emphasise this distinctive symbol of the city and celebrate its industrial heritage. “The industrial revolution in the early nineteenth-century has brought us some new monuments, which still stand and move every day in the gentle dance of steel,” says Skira. He adds, “This dance has gone on for almost 200 years and I wanted to create a colourful stage in which they perform.”
Initially conceived in 2000, Lighting Giants made its debut in May 2014 with the support of private funding and and a £32,174 (300,000 HRK) grant from the Croatian Ministry of Tourism. The lighting spectacle takes place every night from 9 p.m until midnight, each show starting on the hour every hour and lasting for 15 minutes.
